5 days Ago By Anne Delaney
Beginning next week, a portion of 20th Street near the University of Northern Colorado will be closed to traffic as part of the ongoing construction projects altering the landscape around the Greeley school.Starting Monday, the road will be closed between 11th and 14th avenues through the end of the month for infrastructure work related to the construction of the college of osteopathic medical college on 20th Street. Crews are connecting a city of Greeley water main to the new building and working on a service entrance near 13th Avenue.
Construction of the new College of Osteopathic Medicine building continues to grow on the UNC campus on Tuesday. (Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)The traffic pattern through the area is already altered with an eastbound lane shift to accommodate work on the south side of 20th Street.The entrance to the university at 14th Avenue and 20th Street will remain open during the construction.
“The push there is to get that work done and completed before commencement a couple of weeks later,” UNC project manager Kevin Robinson said.The closure of those three blocks will detour traffic north to Cranford Place, according to a UNC map. When the road reopens, there will be a lane shift for several weeks to complete the work.
Commencement ceremonies are scheduled for May 9-10.The area near the medical college building is not the only location at UNC presenting a changed view in the past several months. Around the corner, crews are replacing turf on the hill near the University Center on the east side of 11th Avenue.
The university anticipates the turf replacement will save 1.9 million gallons of water per year by switching from 3.2 acres of water-heavy Kentucky bluegrass in favor of native grasses, prairie and wildflower mixes and Buffalo blue grama, UNC said late last year.
The breakdown of materials used at the site is 3% manicured turf, 7% hardscapes, which is concrete and crushed stone, and 90% native and low-water use plantings. The financial savings is expected to be a little more than $11,000 a year with the change in turf and less watering.UNC energy and sustainability manager Chris Bowers said the university for a long time tried to figure out how to make the most of the large green grass space, sloping down to 11th Avenue and 20th Street.
The area was an attractive spot with plenty of trees and shade yet underutilized.“I think we found a really good solution,” Bowers said.The turf project will include flattening a portion of the space near “Northern Vision,” the bear statue, and creating a terrace.
This change will allow for events there, and a sidewalk will circle down to the street level.The total cost of the project is $892,519. The university received more than $630,000 in grants from the city of Greeley.
UNC’s share is $250,000.There has been more conviction over the past few years on how to use the space on the other side of 11th Avenue for the site of the college of osteopathic medicine.Bowers said this month the existing blue grass will be killed in place to maintain the root structure.
In May, the native seeds will be planted and will grow and develop through this summer. The grasses will be more established and full in the next two years.“It’ll look rough here in May,” Bowers said.
“We’ll have killed all that blue grass. Nothing will have sprouted. It’ll just look like everything’s dead, and everybody will be rightfully upset.
“By the end of the summer, it’ll have sprouted and grown and be looking really nice and just keep getting better and better every summer after.”UNC refers to the college as proposed because of its stage in the accreditation process. The college is in what’s called candidate status, meaning its application and plans are under review by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation, or COCA.
In the candidate phase, the university may not begin to recruit or admit prospective students, accept applications and fees or begin instruction.The commission is in charge of signifying a college has met or exceeded standards for educational quality, according to the American Osteopathic Association website. COCA is recognized by the U.
S. Department of Education as the accreditor of colleges of osteopathic medicine. COCA members meet periodically to review site visit reports, change requests and other items pertaining to the accreditation of osteopathic medical schools.
UNC’s status in the accreditation process could change in the near future. The commission, COCA, will review UNC’s application report for the next stage called pre-accreditation. In pre-accreditation, the proposed college has met initial requirements for accreditation and can then begin recruiting students, admitting students and offering instruction, according to COCA.
The commission has a meeting scheduled Wednesday-Friday, and UNC’s pre-accreditation report and documents will be up for review. A UNC spokesperson said the university expects to hear about its application status from COCA by June.Almost a year ago, in late April 2024, the state approved legislation allotting $247 million for four health-science related projects at school’s of higher education.
A majority of the money — $127.5 million — was earmarked for UNC and construction of the 100,00-square foot building.The bill also provides $41.
2 million to UNC from statutory reserves for deposit into an escrow account. This is a required step by the Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation. The state loans the escrow funds to UNC to cover student costs if the first class does not graduate.
The money will be released back to the state when the first class finishes its education.UNC received about $30 million in donations for start-up for the college including faculty and staff expenditures.The college is expected to open to the first class of students in August 2026.
With the former Bishop-Lehr Hall demolished, the ground for the new osteopathic medical college appears flat and empty. A live view of the site is available at unco.edu/college-of-osteopathic-medicine.
Scroll to the bottom of the page.Workers continue to landscape the new addition on the north hill of the University Center on Tuesday. UNC is converting 3.
4 acres of landscape into water-resilient plantings thanks to $630,000 grant from the city of Greeley.(Jim Rydbom/Staff Photographer)Robinson said work on the new medical college building is now focused on the foundations in each of the three sections. This work will continue into the end of May or early June.
Robinson said a shoring system had to be installed in one area, and drilling has started for the foundation piers. The piers go 30 or 40 feet below ground.Above-ground work, known as the superstructure, is scheduled to start in June.
This work will exten into October and overlap with the masonry, which is the brick, concrete and other materials, the installation of windows and roofing. The addition of these components of the building are expected to start in August or September and run into the holiday season.At the end of the year, the building “will look like a building,” Robinson said.
“The roof will be on and exterior walls.” Interior design work for the building is also wrapping up soon, he added.“It’s an extremely fast timeline, and in my opinion, we are doing it very efficiently,” Robinson said.
“We always had the end date in mind, and when you’re working backwards, you have to figure out all those pieces and how they’re going to come together.”.
